Jeannie Donovan

I am a painter, papermaker and graphic designer with a BA from Emmanuel College and an MFA from U Mass Dartmouth. I paint primarily in watercolor, acrylic, and 'pulp painting,' a technique I learned as an apprentice in papermaking at Rugg Road Handmade Papers in the 1980's. The process involves using beaten paper fibers that are pigmented prior to creating the piece, and layering more sheets onto a thick base sheet, using specialized equipment, screens and beaters. The imagery is drawn onto the base sheet using finely-beaten liquid pulps applied with plastic bottles and spoons, no 'paint' is ever applied at any time. Creating imagery through the layering process of pulp painting has led to a new way of working and painting. I describe my work as 'semi-abstract realism': though the imagery is derived from direct observation of form and space, it is also about emotion in vibrant color, light and shadow.

I am a lifetime member of the Artists Association of Nantucket and have exhibited in numerous solo and group shows in Boston, the North Shore, New York, Nantucket, the Rocky Neck Art Colony, Cape Cod, and a gallery/studio I owned in Newton, Massachusetts (Studio Paradiso).